Titanfall’s Gameplay Will Make You Forget About Its Resolution and Player Count

As exciting as it was counting down until the launch of the next gen consoles, it was also at times equally unpleasant. For me, much of the negativity stemmed from everyone’s focus on the lack of visual parity between the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Some of it was funny, especially early on with all the ridiculous GIFs hitting forums like NeoGAF. But when you peeled away that layer of the conversation, what you were left was merely a handful of titles with slightly sharper visuals on one platform over the other; a bulk of those being cross-generational leftovers from PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

It was around that time that Giuseppe, a fellow DualShockers editor, said exactly what I was thinking: “it’s a good thing that I play video games and not resolutions.”

With that mindset in place, I’ve been looking at games under an even more critical lens . Now that we’re finished talking about cores, whatever-P, and teraflops, we can start discussing why many of us (myself included) play video games to begin with: the experience.

One title– that has received scrutiny for both its resolution and online player count — is the online multiplayer first person shooter Titanfall. During the fall, the more critical (and vocal) gamers took to social media and message boards to slam the game for its sub 1080p resolution, and more recently it’s 6 vs 6 online player count.

However, when it comes to Titanfall, seeing is believing.

The game combines quick twitch gunplay, mechs that drop out of the sky, as well as jetbacks and parkour for added verticality rarely seen in shooter like it. Respawn Entertainment’s Call of Duty foundation is clearly present, but after you see the title in motion and start noticing all of the other elements that come into play it becomes more and more apparent as to why so many folks in the games industry are as excited as they are about this title. Resolution be damned.

“But it’s only 6 vs 6.”

OK. Don’t get me wrong, I understand why that may seem like a low number, but as someone who has poured countless hours into Battlefield 4, a game known for it’s over-the-top 32 vs 32 action, I can say with confidence that the moment to moment gameplay found in that title is much more exciting and fulfilling when playing the smaller, more intimate, squad based matches. More players doesn’t always necessarily translate to a better online shooter.

If you’ve ever played MAG (which allowed for up 256 players) on the PlayStation 3 you know exactly what I’m talking about. With 6 vs 6 in Titanfall, and each of those players having access to their own mech, it means that there’s always the possibility of 12 mechs raising hell on one map. Need I really say more?

The Titanfall alpha has officially begun, and really good glimpses of gameplay have been emerging online from it. And before you say it, the answer is yes. As in yes: we’ve all seen shooters with twitch gunplay mechanics, we’ve all seen mech shooters, and we’ve all seen games with jet packs and even parkour elements. But what we haven’t seen is all those elements come together in one cohesive package, which is exactly what is about to happen on March 11th when Titanfall releases.

Take a moment to forget about the “power of the cloud” PR nonsense, the resolution, and the 6 vs 6 online player count. Instead take the time to take it all in and appreciate the gameplay for what it looks like so far: a unique and epic online shooter experience.

Joel Taveras is one of the founding members of DualShockers. He hails from New York City where he lives with his wife and two sons. During his tenure with the site, he's held every position from news writer to community manager to editor in chief. Currently he manages the behind the scenes and day-to-day operations at the publication.